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Dominick Saponaro is an award-winning artist from Philadelphia, PA working in the illustration field for over ten years. His work has been featured in Spectrum, Expose, ImagineFX, and showcased in numerous galleries and illustration shows. Some clients include publishers of books, video games, and magazines such as Simon & Schuster, Tor Books, Harper Collins, Audible, The Science Fiction Book Club, Applibot, & Solaris Books.

Spectrum 17, a compilation of the years best fantastic art has arrived in book stores everywhere. I am both honored and fortunate enough to be included in this year copy. Ive had the pleasure of owning every single copy of Spectrum since its inception in 1994 and still to this day find myself flipping through past years for inspiration. With the awesome Manchess cover (which I had the pleasure of seeing created before my very eyes at IMC 2009) on the crisp white background, amazing type design, beautiful reproductions, and new artist info next to the specific art, it is in my opinion the best Spectrum to date! Heres a small list of some fellow artist friends & colleagues I have the pleasure of sharing the pages with.

Congratulations to everyone who got in this year. If you've already got a copy Im on page 249, if you don't... what are you waiting for? Its awesome! Run on out and grab yourself a copy or get a really great discount from Amazon here.

Head on out and pick up the latest issue of Imagine FX magazine. Besides being a really great resource for illustrators it has a cool article on the Illustration masters class I attended this past summer. I was fortunate enough to have my Maid of Orleans piece featured with some other really great artists that attended the class. In addition to the IMC article theres a neat little piece on the science behind visual perception by Jim Gurney and nice article on legendary illustrator William Stout. So run on out and grab yourself a copy!

Here are links to the two previous articles I posted about the Illustration Masters Class:

For this years Assignment I chose to take on the Maid of Orleans... Joan of Arc. We were free to interpret this book cover anyway we wished through either a historical viewpoint or, as I chose here a more fantastical one. I’ve been wanting to do an angel piece for quite sometime and this was the perfect opportunity to take on the challenge.

chose 10 artists to be featured in an upcoming article. I just found out that I was fortunate enough to be one of the select artists. Ill post an update when the article hits the stands, but in the mean time here is a list of all the artists that were chosen.

Here’s the follow up to my figure study post from a few weeks ago. After “finishing” this piece without the figures I felt something was missing from it. I really thought it could benefit from another narrative layer and added the two foreground figures. Adding the human element to the painting really transforms the piece from a nice train portrait to a much more narrative story. Check out a larger version and zoom details here.

Back in December I was lucky enough to be featured in Jon Schindehette’s 2010 Art Order Calendar. For those not familiar with Jon he is the Senior Art Director for Dungeons and Dragons. Besides his work at Wizards of the Coast Jon’s ArtOrder blog is a great resource for illustrators both new and seasoned for all things fantasy art related. The calendar was conceived of as a promotion for prospective sponsors of his blog. Jon is also selling them ($12.95 + Shipping) on his site to defray some of the cost. So head on over and grab one while you still can! Other artists included are:

Here’s a couple of quick figure costume design/pose studies done for inclusion in my train piece here. After “finishing“ the piece I felt it was part of a larger narrative and needed a human element added. I am putting the finishing touches on the figures and will be posting the real final very soon. Stay tuned.

This was one of the assignments for the Illustration Masters Class I attended last Summer. It is a cover for the Edgar Rice Burroughs science fiction novel A Princess of Mars. The first of his famous Barsoom series. It is also Burroughs' first novel, predating his Tarzan stories. The story is considered a classic example of 20th century pulp fiction or more specifically the planetary romance genre. You can check out a larger version in the portfolio section here.

IMC is a fantasy and science fiction illustration week long workshop created and run by Rebecca Guay in Amherst Massachusetts. It is an intense week of learning and Attendees benefit from a full schedule of classes in figure drawing, use of reference, drawing from the imagination, digital and traditional painting technique, as well as live demos and lectures. We were assigned a project and expected to have finished sketches when we arrived. We then spent the week working with some of the best in the industry on our pieces. This coming years faculty include:

I painted this piece as a challenge after getting back in touch with fellow U-Arts Alumn and friend Will Spear. He paints all sorts of great wildlife and landscapes avoiding the figure at all costs. I on the other hand like to paint more narrative figure work. We flipped this on its head and I painted the wildlife while he painted... lets just say... a not so flattering swashbuckling portrait of myself.

All in all I really enjoyed painting this. It was a fun departure from my usual subject matter. I think Ill try something similar soon.

*Here is a link to Will’s facebook page because he doesn't have his website up yet. Go connect with him and check out his really great Plein Air paintings. Make sure you let him know where you heard of him.

Swashbuckle Studio

Dominick Saponaro is an award-winning artist from Philadelphia, PA working in the illustration field for over ten years. His work has been featured in Spectrum, Expose, ImagineFX, and showcased in numerous galleries and illustration shows. Some clients include publishers of books, video games, and magazines such as Simon & Schuster, Tor Books, Harper Collins, Audible, The Science Fiction Book Club, Applibot, & Solaris Books.